Pawpaws 2023

I ordered some seedlings from them last year. They were small, about 2-3 inches tall in starter plugs. They did well over this summer though, putting on a few inches of growth.

I wonder how long it will take those seedlings to fruit. I bought a grafted trees. It still took those trees 7 - 8 years to set fruit.

Growing pawpaws is not for impatient person like me.

Mine are still starter plugs but they’re probably 6 to 8 inches. I will measure them this weekend. I am sure they are ones that sat around longer before selling and so therefore got taller.

They arrived in very good condition, except one was broken but I patched it back together and that wasn’t their fault. I’m sure the post office did it.

They have really nice roots as far as I can tell, and that made me happy.

I have them all in 12” tall tree pots now, to give depth for the taproot.

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I get it, I am not patient either, which is why I bought grafted trees.

But my order of grafted paw paws never woke up so now I am trying seedlings.

Late is better than never.

I was told that paw paws have a 75 percent change of being as good or better quality than the parent it came from.

Plus, if I get a good one, I can name it! :grin:

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Thanks! I will look for them next season.

Nearly a decade ago I ordered 10 seedlings from Musser Forest. All failed to leaf out…and after some haggle, I got refunded eventually. But, previously I had ordered seedlings from someone in McMinnville, TN and also seedlings from a nursery in Plains, MT. That lived despite much neglect on my part. The fruit didn’t turn out to be all that good.

I’ve gotten seeds from sources in KY and IN and PA…plus collected seeds of some pretty good ones native to Berea, KY area. And, there isn’t the nuance of difference in asimina triloba that there is in malus domestica…seedlings are not too different from the parent tree in most cases.

So, seedlings are being planted pretty thickly among 3 or 4 apple trees in decline…I’ll have quite a group of fruits in 3 or so years from seedlings of varieties I enjoyed eating, or 3 or 4 seeds I bought.

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Nice! Sounds like you got a great plan there. Planted some trees this spring from large fruited trees near London, Ontario. Have some seeds from Buzz Ferver stratifying in the Coolbot for the coming spring.

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I have heard that too!

Heard what?

‘They don’t grow true to seeds but from what I read there is a good chance that seedlings from good cultivars may produce decent fruit.”

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They don’t grow true to seed, but the seedlings of improved varieties are vastly better than the wilds. I have a couple and think they are just as good as the named ones I have.

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I see. Yup, my friend let several seedlings grew out and has kept a couple that produced fruit he likes.

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PawPaw Seedling
PawPaws

Here are the seedlings, in my dome shelter for the winter. They are about 2 and a 1/2 soda cans in height. I planted them in 12" deep tree pots that will be easy to cut off when I plant outside. They are all in a 20-gallon pot, to keep them upright and also, to insulate each other.

The roots looked very nice, could even see thick, white tap roots at the bottom of some.

I will report how many leafed out come Spring. They were $6 each plus shipping.

Looks like they have 39 more in stock, as of right now.

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Thanks for seeds

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Thanks for all of the photos of your pawpaw fruit over the years. I save them all so I can compare them to mine someday.

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Just ate my last pawpaw of the year today (12/7), a Shenandoah. Picked on 10/28, so it’s been kept in the fridge for 40 days. Who says they don’t keep well?!

Still in pretty good shape, though the brown spots indicate it wouldn’t have lasted much longer before turning fully brown. Taste was still really good too, real sweet with no bitterness. I don’t care for Shenandoahs when they turn mostly brown as they develop a more toffee like flavor with a slight bitterness, but still green like this just before darkening & they taste great.

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Something happened in my fridge and my seeds — wet paper towel in a ziploc bag — froze In the drawer. Paper towels hard and frosty like ice. Are they done for?

Doubt it. A flash freeze like if you put them in a freezer can kill them, but a gradual, high temp freeze, surrounded by a moist medium is similar to what they experience in nature.

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Allegedly selected by Major Tom Collins in southeast Georgia. Major Collins also according to some reports selected the "Mango’ cultivar. There are claims that "Collins Select’ is a seedling of Mango selected by the Major. Several nurseries in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida have in the past carried both varieties. Both acclimated to growing in the deepest southern range of the Asimina triloba.

very beautiful

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